Senator Bernie Sanders is an American politician from Vermont who became interested in politics due to his Jewish background: he learned that as a result of Adolf Hitler winning an election, 6 million Jews were murdered including many of his relatives in Poland. Sanders is a supporter of Palestinian rights and has criticized U.S. support for Netanyahu’s government.
American Senator Bernie Sanders in a NY Times op ed, recognizing Israel’s rights, asks the question almost never asked: “What are the rights of the Palestinian people?” He urges immediate cease-fire and notes that the conflict did not begin with Hamas rockets, seeing “a deepening Israeli occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and a continuing blockade on Gaza that make life increasingly intolerable for Palestinians.”
He says, “if the United States is going to be a credible voice on human rights on the global stage, we must uphold international standards of human rights consistently, even when it’s politically difficult. We must recognize that Palestinian rights matter.”